Boss Man Fioretti?

The City Council is hardly a bastion of independence or progressivism, and noDaley loyalist in the bunch would run while the mayor's in the race. (Should heretire, though, look out: "Hey, if he doesn't run, everybody in here's going forit," one alderman says.)

But several of our bolder aldermen appear to be considering a challenge. Bob Fioretti of the Second Ward may be the most likely to pull the trigger. After just three years in office, Fioretti has become one of the real characters in local politics. His allure and his Achilles' heel are the same—he knows how to work all sides. He's comfortable cutting tax increment financing deals in the back room and then walking to the front and telling reporters about it. He's pushed to improve oversight of city contracting and the budget but voted in favor of the parking meter deal. He's a prosperous whitelawyer who spends a lot of time in the poor neighborhoods of his ward and is fairly well known on black radio.